Eagles Rally Past Rockdale 8-7

by Mike Organ

Tanner Meuth slides into 3rd ahead of the throw. PHOTO BY MARK STRAIN Sam Perry laced a single to right field that sent Ryan Garrison scurrying home with the winning, walk off run as the Eagles defeated Rockdale 8-7. Garrison had whacked a double down the leftfield foul line to get into scoring position. A wild pitch moved Garrison 90 feet from victory, just prior to Perry’s single.

The night had started in a geometrically different mode. The first Rockdale batter reached third on an Eagle error. The second Tiger batter reached third on another Eagle error. A single followed to get run two home. A dropped throw at first, an error at shortstop, and a two-run single upped the Tiger advantage to 5-0 before Lexington had a chance to bat. When the Eagles did bat, no runs scored even though the frame ended with the bases loaded.

The Tiger offense continued in the second inning. Three singles, a wild pitch, and a stolen base provided the Tigers with two more runs. The at bat was ended when the third single hitter tried to make it a double. A throw from Nathanael Clifford, to Colby Bexley, to Tanner Meuth got the sliding Tiger before he reached second.

The Eagle offense came alive in the bottom of the second inning. Garrison walked, Perry singled home Garrison who had stolen second base. Meuth singled home Perry, and Clifford singled home Meuth after a steal. Three runs were posted by the Eagles, cutting the Tiger lead almost in half. In the third inning, the Eagles moved closer to the Tigers after shutting them out in the top of the inning. Connor Dodd reached on an error by the Tiger second baseman. Clay Mertink reached on an error, but was erased at second on Bexley’s grounder. Dodd scored on the Bexley fielder’s choice. The score was now 7-4 as hope came back to the Eagles fandom.

Rockdale’s scoring had stopped as the Eagle pitchers began to throw strikes and the fielders caught the ball. Lexington posted another run in the fifth inning. Jacob King singled and went to third on Dodd’s single. Mertink sacrificed the runners into scoring position. King scored on Bexley’s ground out to second. The score was now 7-5.

In the sixth inning, Lexington set the stage for the seventh inning heroics. Meuth led off with a single, Clifford followed with another singleton and a stolen base. King lashed a two-run double to right centerfield to tie the game at 7-7.